In electronic marketplace applications, promotions often entice users to make a purchase that they otherwise may not. Further, promotions often entice users to try a product or service that they might not otherwise try. In many cases, the users try the product or service and become loyal consumers, thereby increasing revenue for the electronic marketplace.
Often there are many promotions available to a user at any given time. When the user has the option to pick and choose from a set of many promotions, the selection process is time consuming, and potentially confusing. Some of the promotions may not be relevant to a particular user, and the user takes additional time to sort through the promotions to determine which ones are relevant. For users that have many purchases to make, for instance, the time it takes to sort through the promotions may be too long, and the user may lose interest in the current purchase. Also, if there are too many promotions, the user may feel overwhelmed by the experience, or perhaps confused by apparent conflicting or overlapping offers, and lose interest in the current purchase. In these instances, the promotions may actually negatively impact revenue for the electronic marketplace, due to the reduced potential purchases. The user also may be discouraged from purchasing from this site in the future, due to the length of time the process took.
Further, promotions are often applied consistently for each eligible user. However, users that would have made a particular purchase regardless of the associated promotion yields a promotion with a potential negative revenue impact.